PATHS

Michael was still bored at school. While he did learn things - biggest surprise was if a person can walk down a trap-laid hallway without triggering anything, Luck will get a huge boost so this is the worst stat to increase - it wasn’t to the extent of interesting him. So he did what any normal person would do. He lazed about. Until…

“The Goddess Janira is always watching over us. The Bishop of the order was given a viewing and was told to instruct you young ones on the advantages of options. For now, everyone please open the screen by saying ‘Show Options’. Now the first thing about options is to…”

Michael was interested. He immediately opened the options, “Show Options,” with a whisper then examined the screen.

Options (NPC Edition)LifeSightShowHide

Michael was confused at everything being shown. ‘NPC’? ‘And these options...’ For the first time Michael decided to listen to the Father.

“...lives easier. Now look at the screen and you should see ‘Options (NPC Edition)’ at the top. NPC refers to us, and our order has decided that it should mean ‘Normal Pieces of the Continent.’ The Goddess Janira has also approved of this name while also hinting at how there are going to be abnormal ‘pieces of the continent’ that will appear. Hopefully this will be far into the future.”

Michael was getting bored, but he persevered. Changing his options could have an adverse effect, especially if this was first kept to the Church and is only now being revealed to the public through educating the kids.

“Now, under that title you will see a set of four words: Life, Sight, Show, and Hide. The first word ‘Life’ is something denied to all males. This part of options is for females of a certain age and is what helps them in having children. This still needs a female and a male to pair up and *cough cough*”

Father Nathan started to cough quite loudly and his face was rather red. It got redder when he noticed the stares of the children.

“N-now, the second option is for active people. For mages and warriors they need to keep an eye out for their Health and Mana. For this reason, opening ‘Sight’ will show various options but most are hidden from our eyes. For now, only Health, Mana, and Stamina are shown. They are also in a dormant ‘Off’ state. Turning it on will allow you to see a bar at the top of your sight line. These bars will represent your body’s energy. Red for health, blue for mana, green for Stamina. Warriors will need to keep track of their health and stamina in order to avoid collapsing in a critical situation. Mages need to keep track of their mana in order to see what spells could and could not be used safely.”

Michael immediately opened the ‘Sight’ part of options.

“Open Sight”

Options (NPC Edition)LifeSightShowHideSightHealthOFFManaOFFStaminaOFFUnknownOFF

“Health on, Mana on, Stamina on.”

Michaels whispers barely ended when he immediately saw three bars of various colours appear at the top. He was glad he didn’t need to open his status screen anymore and already he thought of the things he could properly do with it in sight. ‘Instant Analyzation’ was still an unknown skill that takes up an unknown amount of mana. With some experiments…

Michael half-heard the Father finish his explanation of the Sight option and decided to listen to the rest. Maybe the other two would be good as well.

“...used safely. Now for the next option. Show and Hide actually go hand in hand. For important officials and even just paranoid citizens, hiding various parts of one’s status screen is a must in order to avoid showing their body’s strengths and limits. Now when you open the option for those you will notice…”

Michael decided to open the Hide one and turned off some of the options. What did he turn off? Well we can find out later.

[/hr]

In the house of the Kane family, there lived three people. The child Michael was somewhat of an odd duck. Especially if you listened to various specific mothers in the town. Most of them would say they he was mature for his age. Never making a fuss, never wandering around, never talking back. Those plus the talk of his walking and talking at just 7 months of age gave him some positive reviews. To balance out though there was the rumours. Tales that Michael was really a black sorcerer that reincarnated as a baby. There had been legends about such things but in this modern age...The parents of Michael actually turned off such rumours.

Aaron Kane was a prominent warrior. Rumour has it he had ties to several royal families across the land and there even a sight where Aaron kicked out a noble from his house. There was even one story where there was a raid against caverns of monsters. The soldiers had gathered at the entrance, ready to fight, only to watch as Aaron walks out of the cave, calm as the breeze. He was covered in blood and when the soldiers did go into the cavern they did not see any living soul left. The treasure was also taken to the disappointment of the raid leaders.

Aaron’s wife was Celia Kane. Although she always calls herself a simple alchemist, her concoctions would sometimes heal what the priests of Helene couldn’t. Rumours of such usually brought wishes from nobles and because of that, Aaron had to kick out most of the more stubborn proxies. With two prominent citizens of the town of Bellen as his parents, Michael had a relatively calm childhood.

Michael approached the end of his 7th year.

[/hr]

Michael was sitting in the middle of his bed. 7 years and he had ignored the skill’s more detailed side. When he was finally taught the phrase this morning he decided he couldn’t ignore it any longer.

“Show details of ‘Instant Analyzation’.”

Instant Analyzation. Beginner. Level 7. (38%)[p=left]Allows for analysis of the situation, analysis of monsters and their actions, and analysis of weapons in a fraction of the time.

Depending on how quickly you wish to cram the information in, more mana is needed to do so.[/p]

“Instant Analyzation”

Michael said the words and then made it so he crammed twice as much time. He kept an eye out on his mana and was surprised at the speed it was going down. Even at just twice the speed made his mana, 500 in all, go down quickly. When he counted to 50 the skill was cancelled and his mana was zero.

‘50 seconds was compressed into 25. So at a rate of 2:1 20 mana is used up per second. Or 10 mana per compressed second.’

When his mana recovered fully, Michael decided to use it again.

“Instant Analyzation”

This time he tried to compress 3 seconds into 1 second. His mana dropped very quickly. Before he could even reach 25 seconds the skill was cancelled and his mana gone again.

‘Did the skill take up twice as much mana just by adding another second. Thats some awful restrictions...’

Michael then focused on the information boxes that appeared. He had tampered with a few of his options and noticed he could actually move the boxes to a corner of his vision. Focusing on the boxes brought them back into full sight.

Due to finding out more information on ‘Instant Analyzation’ more information is added to the skill window.

You have gained +1 Concentration

You have gained +4 Wisdom

You have gained +1 Concentration

You have gained +1 Concentration

You have gained +1 Concentration

[/hr]

His concentration had lagged the past few years. Boring classes made his mind wander so the stat had stayed in the 60 range. Now though...he gained +8 to concentration just by focusing on the limits of a skill…

“Show details of ‘Instant Analyzation’.”

Instant AnalyzationBeginner. Level 7. (38%)[p=left]Allows for analysis of the situation, analysis of monsters and their actions, and analysis of weapons in a fraction of the time. Due to experimentation you have found the limits of the skill.

Depending on how quickly you wish to cram the information in, more mana is needed to do so.

At a rate of 2:1 it takes up 10 mana per compressed second. For example, 50 seconds compressed into 25 seconds takes up 500 mana.

At a rate of 3:1 it takes up 20 mana per compressed second. For example, 25 seconds compressed into 8 seconds takes up 500 mana.[/p]

‘Well thats useful...’

Michael could find uses for this skill…

[/hr]

Michael had been sparring with his father for the last few years. Aaron Kane was a rather large man but his movements were very smooth and practiced. Michael assumed he had a high agility stat but he knew ways of countering that. Whenever he was in a pinch Michael made good use of ‘Instant Analyzation’ in order to get some advantage.

Aaron himself was always surprised at his son. Michael had a knack for managing to see through surprise strikes, and even if he was noticeable slower Michael even blocked some of them. In the beginning Aaron wanted a weaker person to spar with Michael, but at this rate Michael could probably surpass Aaron.

Aaron was also trying to find some challenges for Michael. He started to notice that Michael was taken it rather easily. Hard training was done systematically by Michael and there barely any complaints. 3/4s of the books in the house was already read by Michael and there were a lot of books...So Aaron decided to call a friend.

In the privacy of his office - hidden from everyone except his wife, he was smart enough for that - Aaron went to one of the various safes and opened the smallest. Inside was a glowing red orb that seemed to pulse in his hands. He then spoke the magic phrase.

“Hello? Operator? Ah, please connect me to Harold olr Opinio.”

The red orb showed the operator, a middle aged women wearing some kind of helmet, nodding and tampering with something out of sight. The red orb then cleared once more before a noise filled the room.

rrring. rrrring.

“Hello? Ah Aaron my dear friend. Hows the missus? You enjoying the married life?”

A youngish man was looking through the orb. He had a face splitting grin that was reminiscent of his seal - a Happy face with diamond eyes. The red orb discoloured his usual purple eyes.

“Ah Harry, I have a proposition for you. You see my son is kind of...bored. He went through my hell training at just 6 years of age and I’ve been sparring with him since he was 5...hes gonna beat me before reaching his 10th year. You don’t have to look so shocked. Anyways, I wanna see if he has any interest in Magic. Could you come and tutor him? Yes he has read that book. He read 3/4s of the books in the house already, hence the call. Ah good. I’ll be seeing you then. Wait, when will you be here? 3 years? Oh good you can teach him after he reaches 10 years old. Good timing.”

Harold just gave another big grin before he disappeared from the orb. It was just like the man to have a grin when facing something strange. And Aaron remembered his hell training…

ohhhhh flashback

[/hr]

Michael was running his 10th lap through the course Aaron made. Climbing up specific trees, jumping from one to another, throwing a rock accurately at the target, fend off strikes from Aaron, then running a few kilometres. Rinse in the river then repeat. Most men would have fainted already but Michael had a look in his eyes. A look most men wouldn’t have until they reached their Calling day.

Michael actually was taking advantage of the course to increase his ‘Concentration’ stat. He focused on the various stages, not allowing for anything else to distract him and in no time he was finished most of the stages. When the stat reached 50…

Congratulations, you have reached 50 in Concentration. Because of the intense concentration made by this achievement, you have gained the ability to stay calm during various situations. This has unlocked the ‘Stored Rage’ stat. Unlocked the skill ‘Rage Release’.

Rage Release. Beginner level 1 (0%)[p=left]Your rage from the past returns in a burst of power. Release your bottled up feelings and allow it to wash over you and dye the battlefield in the colour of Rage.

Using the skill normally will permanently consume the ‘Stored Rage’ stat. Every 10 seconds of use will take up 1 ‘Stored Rage’ stat. Normal skill will boost all stats by 10%.

Increasing the usage and stat increase will consume more of the ‘Stored Rage’ stat. Overuse will cause you to go Berserk.

Berserk: ‘Stored Rage’ will not decrease but you will not be able to differentiate between friend or foe. Strength increases as damage taken increases. Health is recovered at triple rate. Cannot be debuffed in this state. Cannot be healed in this state.[/p]

‘...what an awful skill...’

+1 to Stored Rage

‘...’

Simple back

And forth

[/hr]

Edited on October 23, 2013 so that it would look better to the eyes.

Grahaha. Finished the 5th chapter. Woot woot. Maybe a break? Meh I'll just write a better 6th chapter. Gonna be introducing a pet so yea... And when will the Game be released to everyone else? When he gets to 20 years of age. So around chapter 12 hopefully...